Second Acts: Real Estate and the Arts in Fairfield County
Welcome to FLB Law’s Ninth Real Estate Outlook! We are proud to co-host this event with the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce and the Westport-Weston Chamber.
Program
8:00 am
Registration and Networking
8:30 am
Welcome by Shannon O’Toole-Giandurco, President and CEO of the Greater Norwalk Chamber of Commerce
Performance by the Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts
Introduction by Eric Bernheim, Managing Partner of FLB Law
8: 45 am
Panel Discussion moderated by Dan Woog followed by audience Q+A
About our moderator and panelists
Moderator: Dan Woog
Founder and publisher, www.06880.org
Dan Woog is a native Westporter. He has chronicled the town – in print since his Staples High School days, and since 2017 in his popular “06880” blog (www.06880.org). The tagline is “Where Westport meets the world,” and posts include news, features, history and photos. It gets up to 20,000 hits a day. In 2021, “06880” became a non-profit foundation, with a mission to educate and bring the Westport community together.
A Brown University graduate and fulltime freelance writer, Dan has been published in the New York Times, USA Today and Sports Illustrated. He has also written 18 books, including a 380-page history of Staples High School. He also spent 19 wonderful years as head coach of the Staples High School boys soccer team.
Eric D. Bernheim
Eric D. Bernheim is managing partner at FLB Law and one of Fairfield County's most sought-after real estate attorneys. A Fairfield County native practicing in Westport, he represents developers, landlords, tenants, lenders and municipalities in acquisitions, leases, financing, and zoning and land use matters.
Bernheim was appointed special counsel to the City of Norwalk for the largest redevelopment project in the city's history, The SoNo Collection. He has guided national restaurant groups such as bartaco and Barcelona Wine Bar through their nationwide expansion and has worked on local projects including the Westport Weston Family YMCA and the Hamlet.
He founded Fairfield County's Real Estate Outlook in 2017 and is recognized by Chambers USA, Best Lawyers and Connecticut Super Lawyers. A committed supporter of the arts, he serves on the board of directors of MOCA Westport, the advisory board of The Norwalk Art Space and the board of directors at the Westport Downtown Association.
Danny Loftus George
Danny Loftus George is the President of The Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts. The Norwalk Conservatory of the Arts (NoCo) is a not-for-profit performing arts college in Norwalk, Connecticut, offering Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees designed to prepare the next generation of artists for careers in musical theatre, dance, and television and film.
With an acceptance rate of just 3%, NoCo has quickly become one of the top performing arts colleges in the country. In 2023, NoCo became the first not-for-profit college in Connecticut in 25 years to receive state authorization to operate as a degree-granting institution, marking a significant milestone for arts education in the state.
Danny is a proud Board Member of The Higher Vibrations Collective, Trustee of The Leonard Litz Foundation, and Former Vice Chair of the Arts and Culture Commission for the City of Norwalk. He has had a vivid career as a director, actor, and producer.
Darcy Hicks
Darcy Hicks, M. Ed., MFA, is the Director of Education at The Norwalk Art Space. For the last thirty years, she has taught children and teachers in Norwalk, Westport, Bridgeport, and New Haven, where she was a Visual Literacy specialist with the Yale Center for British Art.
The mission of The Norwalk Art Space (TNAS) is to increase opportunity and equity in the local arts community. In addition to a gallery and an award-winning cafe (run by Bill Taibe), TNAS provides free art and music courses to students who often don’t have access to creative learning. Darcy’s educational approach focuses on creativity as a means of building the communication skills students need to effectively engage in their communities.
Darcy has published and presented her research on art, literacy, and community engagement through Yale Press, the West-East Conference for Humanities, and the National Council of Teachers of English.
Jessica Vonashek
Jessica is the Executive Director of Manresa Island Corp., a non-profit organization transforming a decommissioned power plant into a publicly accessible park, located in Norwalk, CT. Prior to this, Jessica was the City of Norwalk’s first Chief of Community and Economic Development, where she oversaw Planning and Zoning, Building and Code Enforcement, Transportation, Mobility and Parking, and the Business Development and Tourism teams.
Before living in the Norwalk region, Jessica lived in the Boston region and served as Chief Officer for Operations Policy and Oversight at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), worked as a Program Manager at the Harvard Kennedy School, and for the State of Massachusetts as a Senior Policy Advisor.
While Jessica originates from Canada, she currently lives in Fairfield, CT, with her two young children. In her spare time, Jessica and her girls run in local road races, hike, travel, and visit family in Canada.
Carleigh Welsh
Carleigh Welsh is the Vice President, Executive Producer, at The Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts.